PTO Pellet mills

I've been thinking about getting a pellet mill to make my own wood pellets to heat with. I was wondering what your experience is with them and what you are using to power them? I have a kubota B6800 which I believe is rated 17hp at the PTO. Is my tractor powerful enough to run one of these? If not my uncle has a larger ITC I could use if I give him some pellets.

Re: PTO Pellet mills

I have no experience with a pellet mill, however, from what I know from reading about them - the making of burnable pellets is a multi step process. Unfortunately I've never seen a mill that goes directly from trees, brush, limbs, cardboard etc to pellets. Everything you are going to use must first be turned into pulp. This would mean a chipper to make chips then a hammer mill of some kind to make pulp then a pellet mill to make pellets.
I looked into this about 15 years ago so things could have changed and maybe now you only need a two step process - make pulp then make pellets.

Google - - "pellet mill" and see what the latest state of technology can provide.

Ride hard or sit your butt on the porch

"isn't it weird that in AMERICA, our flag & our culture offend so many people - but our benefits do not"

Re: PTO Pellet mills

I have a place to get sawdust free or cheap. My friend's family has a moulding shop that uses oak and poplar. The videos that I have seen goes from sawdust to pellets. Drying things out might be the tricky part.

Re: PTO Pellet mills

I assume your goal is to save money on pellets.

You did not say, but have you tried purchasing pellets in bulk, rather than bagged?

I am associated with an organization that uses maybe a thousand pounds of wood pellets per week, year round. We use bagged pellets, but did try a couple loads of bulk, but it did not quite fit into our operation.

Re: PTO Pellet mills

Half a ton a week? Are you cooking with those Pellets? I used about 4 tons of pellets last year to heat my house, and yes I do buy in bulk. Lowes and Tractor Supply charge around $230 a ton, but they don't keep them stocked all winter. I have found a place to get them cheaper, but it is 52 miles round trip and they close before I can get off work and get up there. To make the trip worth it I have to get 3 ton at a time. Just thought if I could start making my own with what I have access to I could cut down my heating cost.

I know this is kind of off topic for a tractor site, but just wanted to see if anyone had a mill in use and how they liked it.

Re: PTO Pellet mills

It is right on topic for here. I would question the price you would be able to make the pellets for. The price of the tractor wear, diesel and the price of the machine all need to be accounted for. I would think you would need to make more than just your need to make it cost effective. I have not seen a large number of pellet presses, but I would think a electric driven press might be more cost effective. Any advise contained is worth what you paid for it.

Re: PTO Pellet mills

I've seen electric and gasoline pellet mills in video clips. Both mills were about 1/2 the size of a home clothes dryer and made pellets rather slowly - pulp was fed in slow. I guess if you just dump the pulp fast the intake chute plugs. There was no mentions of drying the pellets after they were made but I would imagine its necessary.

Just a thought - if you get cheep or free sawdust - why not look into a stove that can burn the sawdust. Bypass all the bother and just use the sawdust as it is.

The two pellet mills I saw were $1600 to $2300 depending upon features & attachments.

Ride hard or sit your butt on the porch

"isn't it weird that in AMERICA, our flag & our culture offend so many people - but our benefits do not"

Re: PTO Pellet mills

The mills I've seen advertised are $2250, but they are located on the other side of the state so I haven't gotten to look at them in person. I have seen an electric model they offer without the motor for $1350. My power bill is crazy as it is, so that's why I want to stay away from an electric mill.

Re: PTO Pellet mills

I purchased a pellet stove last year, went through four ton by mid January. I then got my new wood stove installed and started burning just wood. I wish I never would have purchased the pellet stove a Harman P68. I thought i would get it for her for when I travel for a few days at a time; she doesn't like it (I don;t care that much for it either) and wood rather feed the fire. The new wood stove has very good burn time 8 to 12 hours.

We will use the pellet stove for when we both travel for a few days as with the extended hopper it will burn for two days without loading. I have electric baseboard heat but never use it.

I am also a member at hearth.com the pellet mill question comes up now and then. Most responses say it it not worth the effort. However I don;t recall any one saying they actually tried or purchased one. As already mentioned you will need a lot of chips/sawdust Most of the smaller machines do not produce pellets at a very good rate. I do not know if this is something you can just fill and walk away or if it needs to be babysat. I also seam to recall you need to add oil or some type of bonding agent for the pellets to hold there shape.

If you purchase one I would be interested on how it turns out; speed cost, amount of work involved.